


Too Long a Night

by Raaj



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Flash Fic, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Tags May Change, tweaked from canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2019-09-16 06:41:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16948941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raaj/pseuds/Raaj
Summary: Ryuji's mother recognizes him as one of the Phantom Thieves right before the Thieves experience their most dangerous escape, in which Ryuji gets injured.These aren't the circumstances Ren wanted to meet his friend's mother in.





	Too Long a Night

This night couldn't get worse. Ren was going to have a meltdown if it did.

He wasn't sure he wouldn't, anyway.

Shido's palace had collapsed in an unnatural way compared to previous Palaces. It had gone down way too quickly, too violently, and the Phantom Thieves had barely gotten out with their lives. They wouldn't have gotten out at all if it hadn't been for Ryuji pulling out all his skill as a former track star to make a run at a slope Ren would have thought insurmountable. Hell, Ren still thought it should have been impossible, but Ryuji's cognition clearly hadn't accepted that.

However it happened, Ryuji had reached the emergency release for the lifeboat. The lifeboat had dropped, and everyone else had gotten on and been saved.

There had been no time to save Ryuji before the explosion happened. They'd all been pushed out to the real world by the force of the blast, Ryuji nowhere to be seen. They'd nearly thought he'd died--Ren really _had_  thought he'd died--when Morgana's keen ears picked up on heavy breathing farther away, and they found Ryuji sprawled out on the grass, bleeding from the head.

So now Ren was at Tae's clinic, waiting for Ryuji to wake up, or waiting for Tae to tell him he wouldn't, and listening to a phone ring.

The first time it had been his phone ringing. Futaba, in a panic, because she'd gone on to Leblanc with Morgana only to find the cafe completely destroyed by Shido's underlings. Sojiro had walked in only two minutes into the call, thankfully, calmed Futaba down from hyperventilating and took the phone from her to reassure Ren too. "You're not there alone, are you?" the older man had asked with concern. "You kids have been through hell today. Someone should wait with you."

Ren knew Sojiro wasn't volunteering himself: his first priority was Futaba, as it should be, and she needed him home with her so she could rest. Everyone needed to rest. It wasn't like he could call anyone over at, what, midnight? The trains were going to stop running soon, and they were the only ones who lived in Yongen-Jaya. He'd be fine. At least he knew Takemi-sensei personally. He reassured Sojiro of that, hung up, and stared blankly at the posters on the waiting room's wall.

He'd be fine as soon as Ryuji woke up.

He'd be fine, because Ryuji was going to wake up.

His cognition couldn't accept the alternative.

A phone started ringing again. Ryuji's this time. Ren dragged it out of Ryuji's jacket, looked blankly at the display, and listened until the call went to voicemail.

The ringing started up again only fifteen seconds later. And again. And again.

"Are you going to get that?" Tae asked from the examination room.

"It's his mother."

A pause in which only the phone sounded.

"I can't make any promises yet," she said. "And I can't tell you who should know your secrets. All I can tell you is if it was my kid, I'd want to know where he is. Look, if you're not going to answer it, at least shut it up."

One last ring.

Ren answered it. Because she deserved to know. Because Ryuji might need her here.

_"Ryuji, it is half past midnight an' I've called a dozen times, you better start explaining--"_

"He can't," Ren said quickly. "He's sick. I brought him to a clinic in Yongen-Jaya."

The silence on her end held the charge of a building storm. Ren swallowed. _"...Who is this?"_

"I'm a friend of Ryuji's from school," Ren explained. "Amamiya Ren."

 _"Oh, Ren. Ryuji's told me a lot about you,"_  she said, but her tone didn't warm. _"An' you say Ryuji's ill? He looked just fine this morning."_

There was an accusation in there. Ren backpedaled. "Not sick--he got hurt. There was an accident--"

_"Just give me the clinic's address."_

He did. And he could hear her getting up, moving about, and thought the call was over, but then:

_"You're the leader, aintcha?"_

"...Sorry?" Did she mean--but Ryuji had never said anything about telling his mom about the Thieves.

The weak response earned him an angry scoff, and Ren tensed. _"I ain't stupid, Ren, I'd recognize my son if he put on a clown mask. I'll be there in 20 minutes, an' when I'm there, I want to hear exactly how my child ended up in a clinic halfway across town."_

The call ended.

...Ryuji hadn't told her about the Phantom Thieves; it sounded more like she'd recognized him from the video calling card. And somehow, she'd guessed Ren was the leader. Which meant that when she got here and found exactly what condition her son was in...

"She's going to kill me."

"Sounds like you'd better call emergency services, then," Tae said drily, making sure to add in, "Which I'm not. He really should have gone to a hospital."

"Hospital would think I'm already dead. Ryuji might end up dead there, too." If the head trauma didn't do it, anyway. His nails were cutting half-moon slivers into his palms. They couldn't rest easy about the conspiracy until Shido's change of heart took effect. Would Ryuji's mother understand that? How would she even react to hearing about something like that?

"Ren..." Tae's voice was closer, now, jerking Ren to awareness. She'd opened the door of the examination room and was looking at him, her brown eyes softer than usual. "I'm sorry. You did your best. I'll help him out as much as I can."

She still wasn't making any promises about Ryuji himself, but Ren nodded anyway. "Thank you." He had to appreciate that she was treating him, and she was the most amazing doctor Ren knew. Ryuji's best chance was probably with her. If...if the worst happened, it wouldn't be her fault.

Ren was the leader, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> \o_O/
> 
> I...really like both the idea that Ryuji's mom would recognize him in the video calling card, and the idea that his little near-brush with death could have been more serious.
> 
> It makes for an unhappy Mama Bear.


End file.
